Thinking back decades ago, do you realize it was theoretical that your parent, grandparent or great grandparent spent their entire lives never using nor even having a password for anything?
I remember the first time I ever heard of a password. Growing up, I always enjoyed watching old movies from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s etc. I may have been about five or six years old, I was watching a World War Two movie, I believe it was set in the European Theatre. A soldier was on guard duty at night and heard someone approaching. He called out, “Halt! Who goes there?” The man approaching answered him, in English, the soldier on guard then challenged him, “What’s the password?” I turned to my mother and asked, “What’s a password, and why didn't he just let him through? He spoke English, so he must have been an American.” My mother explained to me that it could have been an enemy soldier who also spoke English just pretending so that he could get in close to the friendly lines, and that only a shared password among the unit would help ensure he was not. I don’t think I ever used any password until years later when I joined the Marine Corps and was in similar guard duty situations. Computers and the internet were in their infancy then and would not have widespread use like they do now for many years later.
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Benedict Arnold 